Play Dates

I've been taking tons and tons of pictures for work recently--but at home, not so much. And despite my heartfelt desire to create a complete photographic record of Lucia's early life, my camera has largely stayed in my bag at nights and on weekends. It is unavoidable, I suppose, that I too will fall into the oft-chronicled pattern: for every 100 photographs of the first child, there are 10 photos of the second and 1 photo of the third.

I (finally) broke out of my slump today. We were expecting friends in the afternoon, so the kids spent the morning playing and helping me tidy up. There was even this magical half-hour period where everyone was awake, fed, and happy, which made for some nice pictures.

My two daughters, hanging out.

Lucia and her personal attendant/older brother.

Lucia is a big fan of her own reflection.

Lucia is cooing a lot now. She likes her playmat, and can entertain herself for up to 15 minutes without too much supervision. But she prefers her brother and her sister--and they are all too willing to give her the attention she wants.

This morning, they took turns playing with her on the mat, trying to get her to smile and talk to them. It was not a hard task.

Soon it was noon, and our guests had arrived--family favorites Tai, Ada, and their parents. Tai is one of  Andres' longest-serving friends, and like any pair of true friends, their play picks up right where it left off the last time they saw each other, time apart no barrier to familiarity. I love seeing them together.

These two wasted no time at all on formalities, tackling each other within a few moments of coats and shoes being removed. And so it went for the better part of an hour--two best friends, two partners in crime laughing and roughhousing and rolling around the living room, happy just to be in the presence of the other.

Best friends.

Before long, they had decided that banging their heads on the floor was not dangerous enough--so they moved to the couch, jumping from the arm to the cushions below. What started out as a single exercise soon became a tandem one...because if it's fun to jump on a couch solo, then it must be twice as fun to do it together.

What could POSSIBLY go wrong?

Clearly not afraid to play with the big boys.

They both got the memo about wearing blue and grey stripes.

Alas, nothing lasts forever, and at some point it was decided that the good times should end so that everybody under 6--and their parents--could get some rest. Naturally, the kids were all still playing together 45 minutes after this had been decided, as the 4 of us adults were struggling to corral and contain the 5 children in our collective charge. Eventually everyone's shoes stayed on and everyone who had to use the bathroom had used the bathroom and we said our goodbyes and the door closed and we all stood there, exhausted, happy and richer for the presence of good friends. But mainly exhausted.